An unprecedented increase of 40 per cent in the cost of Kachhi Canal project has been witnessed during the tenure of the present government, with cost escalating from Rs 57 billion to Rs 80 billion. Sources said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has approved the second revised PC-I of the project while chairing a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC). This was disclosed to the meeting that first PC-I was revised in 2013 to Rs 57 billion from original cost of Rs 31 billion for all the three phases.
The project was originally approved on 27-09-2003 with all the three phases with an implementation period of five years. As the project could not be completed within stipulated time and cost, the project was revised on December 31, 2013 at a cost of Rs 57,562 million.
Once again, the project surpassed the approved implementation period and cost without completion. The ECNEC was informed that a committee constituted by Council of Common Interests (CCI) is inquiring into technical soundness and financial transparency of the project. Meanwhile, WAPDA has now come up with a 2nd revised PC-I costing Rs 80,532 million, seeking approval of the competent forum.
Kachhi Canal is an agriculture oriented project envisaged for development of water and land resources within the less-developed areas of Balochistan province. The canal off-takes at Taunsa Barrage from River Indus with peak discharge of 6000 cusecs and will irrigate an area of 713,000 acres with 72,000 acres in the phase-I. The project is related with the issues of water scarcity, need for additional reservoirs for protection of infrastructure from onslaught of flood and mining of groundwater.
The water sector strategy centers around five important elements ie water augmentation, water conservation and groundwater management, protection of infrastructure from water logging, salinity and floods, and institutional reforms. A meeting held in the Prime Minister's Office in February 2017 decided that the case will be moved for approval of the Prime Minister for additional financing. Afterwards a committee was formed for rationalisation of the cost within 15 days, however, Ministry of Water and Power and WAPDA stated that there is no cushion available for further reduction in cost estimates.